US Senate passes same-sex and interracial marriage bill in a landmark vote

In a landmark bipartisan vote on Tuesday, the United States Senate has passed legislation to protect same sex and interracial marriage, titled the Respect for Marriage Act. The bill was passed with a final vote count of 61-36. The bill was fully supported by all members of the Democratic caucus and 12 Republicans, the same dozen members of the opposing camp who had backed the bill earlier this month for a procedural vote.

The bill will not have to be approved by the House before it is sent to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. It is expected that the House will pass the bill before the end of the year, possibly as early as next week. “For millions of Americans, this legislation will safeguard the rights and protections to which LGBTQI+ and interracial couples and their children are entitled,” Biden said in a statement Tuesday evening after Senate passage, hailing it as a “bipartisan achievement.”

Though the bill will not be deemed as a national requirement that all states requiring to legalize same sex marriage, it would still require individual states to recognize the legal marriage of another state. In a case if the Supreme Court overturns its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision that had legalized same sex marriage, a state can still pass a law to ban same sex marriage, but would still be required to recognize a same sex marriage from another state.

The bipartisan group, which includes Republican Senators Rob Portman of Ohio, Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, previously said in a statement that they looked “forward to this legislation coming to the floor.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer lauded these five senators for their “outstanding and relentless work” on this landmark legislation. “For millions and millions of Americans, today is a very good day,” he said. “An important day. A day that’s been a long time coming.” Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, meanwhile, said the “bill made sense” and “provides important religious liberty protections.”

“While I believe in traditional marriage, Obergefell is and has been the law of the land upon which LGBTQ individuals have relied,” Romney said in a statement. “This legislation provides certainty to many LGBTQ Americans, and it signals that Congress – and I – esteem and love all of our fellow Americans equally.”